Recently I picked up a vintage ‘70s space-age ticker featuring a polished and brushed stainless steel case/band that’s in excellent working condition, however, the brushed stainless steel portion of the case has a couple of light scratches typical of vintage time pieces.

Before I take some pictures for the “Reviews and Latest Acquisitions” forum, I’d like to buff these scratches out with some fine steel wool. My question is which Grade # works best on brushed stainless steel? Also, I don’t wish to use any kind of buffing compound, as the case was designed with contrasting polished and dull brushed finishes.

These 3M Scotch Brite products are highly touted on other watch restoration forums. I shall keep these in mind for other watches that I may obtain in the future, however, after closely examining the current subject under a loupe, I now realize that these tiny surface scratches reside on ¼” and ½” angled surfaces bordering a highly polished bezel. I would need something about the size of a pen tip to safely buff these without affecting the surrounding areas.

In any case, these are pretty minor and only visible upon close inspection, so next week if time permits I shall snap some photos for the “Reviews and Latest Acquisitions” forum.

Thanks for the advice, Bruce. Since these small surface scratches are only noticeable upon close inspection, I’ve decided not to attempt any buffing at this time. Today would have been a good day for a photo shoot had it not been for this major nor’easter looming above. In any case, sooner or later I’ll post some photos along with a humorous anecdote pertaining to this recent acquisition.